Kahleah Copper is an All-Star after all.
Copper, a North Philly native and Phoenix Mercury guard, was named as a replacement player by WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert just days before the league’s All-Star Weekend tips off in Chicago.
Copper will replace the injured Kelsey Plum on “Team Coop.” Cynthia Cooper and Teresa Weatherspoon, the All-Star general managers, drafted players to “Team Coop” and “Team Spoon,” while Becky Hammon (Las Vegas Aces) and La Salle alumna Cheryl Reeve (Minnesota Lynx) will coach the teams. The All-Star Game is Saturday (8:30 p.m., 6abc).
This is Copper’s fifth All-Star nod after getting named to the game in four consecutive seasons (2021 to 2024). She’s leading the Mercury in scoring at 20.5 points per game — which is good for seventh in the league and the second-most of her career —along with 3.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Over her 11-year career, which includes seven seasons with the Chicago Sky, she’s averaging 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists.
No introduction needed. Chicago, get ready. ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/4fi7Njs8qw
— Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) July 23, 2026
Copper rose to WNBA stardom in 2021 with the Sky as she led them to their lone WNBA title and was named Finals MVP. She was traded to Phoenix in 2024 and is now in her third season in the desert.
This past offseason, the former Prep Charter and Rutgers standout had the opportunity to show off in the place it all began when three-on-three league Unrivaled came to Philadelphia for its first tour stop.
“There’s so many people that just kind of stepped into my life,” Copper said in January as she led her teammates around her hometown, “and did stuff for me, literally not looking for anything in return. … For them to see me now, like I really made it because of y’all. That’s tough. That’s fire.
“Everybody literally planted little seeds for me to be who I am today. That’s why it’s so special.”
Copper wasn’t the only star with local ties to get a nod on Tuesday. Wilmington native Elena Delle Donne will participate in the Shooting Stars competition (8 p.m. Friday, ESPN), representing the Washington Mystics.
In the timed shooting competition, in which players representing Washington, Minnesota, Seattle, and Dallas/Detroit, have 70 seconds to score as many points as possible from spots around the court, WNBA legends will be paired with a current player and a high schooler from the Nike EYBL circuit.
Delle Donne, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026, is paired with current Mystics center Shakira Austin and could be joined by another local as Wilmington’s Jezelle “GG” Banks and Philly’s Ryan Carter are among the EYBL players. Banks, who’s attending the St. James Performance Academy in Washington, D.C., is the No. 4 player in ESPN’s Class of 2027 rankings, while Carter, a rising senior at Friends’ Central, is the No. 12 player in ESPN’s rankings.